Now ED registers case in Rs 1,500-crore land acquisition scam in Gurgaon

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated a probe into a land acquisition "scam" in Gurgaon that reportedly caused a loss of Rs 1,500 crore to farmers.Sukhbir Siwach | TNN | September 08, 2016, 08:12 IST

CHANDIGARH: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated a probe into a land acquisition "scam" in Gurgaon that reportedly caused a loss of Rs 1,500 crore to farmers. The decision comes close on the heels of a September 3 CBI raid on the house of former chief minister (CM) Bhupinder Singh Hooda in connection with the scam.

The ED has registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) in connection with money-laundering charges under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A senior officer of the ED told TOI on Wednesday that the case had been registered against those booked by CBI. In the FIR registered by the agency on September 17, 2015, Hooda was not named as an accused and the case was lodged against unknown public servants of Haryana and other persons.

The CBI had on Saturday raided the properties of Hooda, his aides, some bureaucrats, real-estate companies and the officials of town and country planning department, after scrutinizing the records and recording the statements of officials of the department.

According to the CBI's FIR, in 2004, the then Hooda-led state government had issued a notification under sections 4, 6 and 9 of Land Acquisition Act for acquiring around 912 acres for setting up an industrial model township (IMT) in Manesar, Naurangpur, and Lakhnoula, in Gurgaon. Later, around 400 acres of this land was bought by private builders after landowners were told that their land would be acquired by the state government at meagre rates. Later, an order was passed by the director of industries on August 24, 2007, releasing the 400 acres from the acquisition process and in the favour of builders, their companies and agents, instead of the original landowners. "In the said manner, land measuring about 400 acres whose market value, at the rate of Rs 4 crore per acre, totalled around Rs 1,600 crore was allegedly purchased by the private builders and others from innocent land owners for only around Rs 100 crore. An alleged loss of Rs 1,500 crore was caused in this way to the land owners of Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages in Gurgaon district," said the FIR.